Johnston County Honors Favorite Son Fred Smith

Fresh from the morning's press conference where Senator Fred Smith announced he is running for Governor of North Carolina, we drove down to Johnston County where the Annual Reagan Day Dinner was turned into a campaign rally for this "favorite son" as well as the planned "SALUTE TO THE TROOPS" to thank our armed forces.

This year's Reagan Day Dinner was held at the Agriculture Center for Johnston County, an appropriate place for Fred who was for many years a successful farmer in this county.




DeVan Barbour and Dodie Renfer are actively trying to make sure everyone has a good time.



The dinner was well attended so good organization was needed to assure that everything went smoothly, and it went very smoothly.



Ron Toppin looks on as Morgan Dickens helps Bill Tarpenning.




Ginny Smith arrives at the Reagan Day Dinner "Salute to the Troops".




There was an auction held at the end of the dinner and formal festivities and this is the stack of goodies to be auctioned off.




Dignataries on the Dais included Rudy Renfer, Johnston County Republican Chairman, Linda Daves, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, SSgt Scott Peterson, Representative Leo Daughtry and S1C Roland McDowell.

The other side of the Dais included Sergeant Major Copps, Sergeant Cattelona, Representative J.H. Langdon, and Senator Fred Smith.

The crowd was huge, and they gave Senator Smith a standing ovation when he went to the Dais.



Everyone took their seats as the evening events started.

Rudy Renfer, newly elected Chairman of the Republican Party for Johnston County served as Master of Ceremonies.



Dr John Allen, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Clayton gave the invocation.



Color Guard was provided by the West Johnston High School JROTC.



Commissioner Ray Woodall led the Pledge of Allegiance.


Chauna Mason gave an a cappella rendition of the Star Spangled Banner that was awesome.



After these opening ceremonies everyone lined up for the food.


It was quite a feast, and included great ham and beef in addition to the traditional chicken.



Everyone continued to catch up with friends while the serving delay took place, as it always does when you are feeding this many people.



First item on the agenda after dinner was a very moving "SALUTE TO THE TROOPS", and the representative for each service was introduced to the audience by Jim Lee.




Sergeant Major Copps for the Army.



S1C Roland McDowell for the Navy.



Sergeant George Cattelona for the Marine Corps.




SSgt Scott Peterson for the Air Force.




After a patriotic film of the various services was played, Linda Daves delivered some special remarks on behalf of the North Carolina GOP.



At this point Representative J.H. Langdon started the introduction of the Keynote Speaker, Senator Fred Smith.



The introduction of Senator Fred Smith was completed by Representative Leo Daughtry.

Senator Fred Smith, newly announced candidate for Governor, completed the formal event. Senator Smith covered several key issues that are to be the basis for his campaign. The key theme is taking care of family through tax cuts and education focus.

The details of his campaign issues can be found on his web site here and in the article on his announcement press conference which follows immediately below. In that article there are links to the TV coverage of the press conference.

Fred ended with a great closing line, "I want to thank thank all of you for joining me in this. Because we are about winning."

A great way to close the formal festitivities for this Republican event.